F-15 SELFIE: Tech. Sgt. Matthew Plew, a USAF photojournalist, takes a selfie while documenting two F-15E Strike Eagles and an F-15C Eagle conducting aerial maneuvers over southern England, Sept. 3, 2019.

TRADE WAR A WEAPON AGAINST CHINA’S SPY WAR:

…China’s intellectual property theft is more than tax theft. Since the spying robs U.S. institutions and corporations of products and royalties, over time it becomes a form of trade theft, a long-range, indirect attack on U.S. future productivity.

Stealing knowledge may have immediate payoffs, but the drain on future productivity eventually contributes to weakening the U.S.

Seeding key American corporations, research and educational institutes, and media organizations with people China can influence or blackmail might eventually weaken American will to counter Chinese imperial adventurism. The U.S. has the political will to contest China’s slow invasion of the South China Sea. However, after 20 years of funding research and buying influence, America might not be so willing.

The bottom line: ” To counter China’s pervasive threat, the U.S. must attack China’s money — it’s economy. The time to do that is now.”

You should read the whole thing.

TRADE WAR A WEAPON AGAINST CHINA’S SPY WAR

ALGERIA’S SPRING AND SUMMER CONTINUES INTO FALL: Below the radar protests have continued for six months.

A major factor in the persistence of these protests is the fact that 70 percent of the Algerian unemployed are job-seekers in their late teens and 20s. Many have never been able to get a job. The unemployment rate is about 15 percent, up from the 12 percent it was stuck at for several years. Corruption and mismanagement of the former government was seen as a major reason for the high unemployment, especially among the younger Algerians. Another incitement is how the interim government is using its control over mass media to criticize the protestors at every opportunity.

And a systemic weakness:

The government has a way to measure how long it can avoid making decisive and effective changes in the economy and avoid a popular uprising. It all depends on how long the foreign currency reserves last. They dipped below $100 billion at the end of 2017 and are headed for $64 billion at the end of 2019 and $47 billion by the end of 2020. The government inability to reform (suppress corruption) the economy quickly enough to reduce vulnerability to low oil prices becomes obvious when the foreign reserve situation is reported, as they must be to placate foreign exporters and lenders. Foreign exchange reserves, essential to pay for imports, keep declining because 70 percent of what Algerians consume is imported.

And this:

The interim government has ordered that troops and police avoid violence against the demonstrators at all costs. Army leaders know that shooting of protestors risks another civil war.

So Algeria is setting a good example for Beijing — or let’s hope so. One other point: the Algerian military is about to destroy the last Islamic State camps in the mountains along the Algerian-Tunisian border.

This podcast, recorded three weeks ago, provides in-depth background.

OSPREY NIGHT: A USMC MV-22BOsprey prepares for a night flight at Twentynine Palms, California.

HONG KONG MOVES FROM PROTESTS TO CIVIL UNREST AS CHINA THREATENS INTERVENTION: The city remains tense and angry, despite the government’s decision to withdraw the Extradition Bill (nickname for the Fugitive Offenders and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation (Amendment) Bill 2019). It’s my latest Creators Syndicate column.

HOGS OVER AFGHANISTAN: A-10s fly in formation after refueling at Kandahar. Seems to be the week of the Warthog at StrategyPage.

RELATED: In case you missed it, the USAF has decided to let the A-10 for several more years. And yes, the National Science Foundation has experimented with using the A-10 as a “storm chaser” aircraft. You read that right — Warthogs intercepting hurricanes.

The A-10 was built to withstand a lot of ground fire and be a stable gun platform when flying close to the ground (where the weather can be rather bumpier for aircraft.) Storms tend to generate high winds and hail and close to the ground the winds can send a lot of small objects moving around at high speed. The A-10 can handle this sort of thing and carry enough fuel to stay in the air for six hours or more.

What a plane.

HONG KONG MOVES FROM PROTESTS TO CIVIL UNREST AS CHINA THREATENS INTERVENTION: My latest Creators Syndicate column.

…Michael Yon reports that one can feel the collective political and emotional change on Hong Kong’s streets — change that may have dire consequences.

Has the protestors’ cause gone beyond autonomy?

Sometime during the past three weeks, (Yon) mused, the situation went beyond civil unrest. “It is clear that a growing number want to overthrow the HK government,” he said. Though he had yet to hear anyone say it, he bet that “within just a week or so they will be saying it.” He speculated an insurgency could erupt because “clearly many protestors would rather see the city burn than just surrender.”

As Stephen Green noted in an earlier post, the Hong Kong government has withdrawn the “Extradition Bill” (nickname for the Fugitive Offenders and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation (Amendment) Bill 2019). The BBC calls the bill “controversial.” Despicable is more apt.

Is Beijing having second thoughts?

The column’s conclusion:

Beijing must de-escalate the Hong Kong crisis. If the regime resorts to force and kills hundreds, if not thousands, of Hong Kong citizens, President Donald Trump will use that heinous act to unite the world against communist China.

Stay tuned. And read the whole thing.

JAVELIN FIRE: Soldiers from the U.S. Army’s 4th Infantry Division fire the Javelin anti-tank missile during a live fire exercise in Jordan on August 27, 2019. The Pentagon caption says the soldiers are operating in “realistic terrain.” Yeah, it’s realistic. Totally real, in fact.

HONG KONG MOVES FROM PROTESTS TO CIVIL UNREST AS CHINA THREATENS INTERVENTION:

Freelance correspondent Michael Yon reports that one can feel the collective political and emotional change on Hong Kong’s streets — change that may have dire consequences.

My latest Creators Syndicate column. Read the whole thing.

ILHAN OMAR FEELS THE HEAT: I know this has been previously posted but in case you missed it, check it out. Why? Because Scott Johnson has stuck to the case and Scott and Powerline show that it is possible to eventually make jerks like Omar squirm. In Omar’s case, criminal is likely a more apt description than mere jerk. Remember, Powerline was a key player in nailing Dan Rather as a purveyor of fake news. Toujours de l’audace.

THE CUSTOMER IS DEFINITELY RIGHT: The USAF brass now thinks highly of the A-10 Warthog.

Most air force leaders recognized that getting rid of the A-10 would not only anger and disappoint many of their army colleagues, but also the A-10 pilots and ground crews as well as the thousands of air force ground controllers who saw the success of the A-10 up close.

In late 2016 the senior leadership of the U.S. Air Force finally agreed that the A-10 was actually worth keeping. The air force leadership had learned that the A-10 was more than just a popular and effective ground support aircraft. Reserve squadrons revealed that they had quietly developed additional uses that were popular with all combat pilots.

Read the entire, detailed post.

RELATED: Worm’s eye view of an A-10 and two Hogs over Arizona.

USAF STEALTH, RAF STEALTH: RAF F-35B Lightnings conduct integration flying training with USAF B-2 Spirit stealth bombers over the white cliffs. The B-2s are deployed to RAF Fairford, Gloucestershire, UK. This is a fine photo.

OSPREY RAPPEL: A U.S. Marine with 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion rappels from an MV-22 Osprey during helicopter rope suspension technique training at Camp Hansen, Okinawa, Japan.

UNLIKE HIS PREDECESSORS TRUMP GETS CHINA: Paul Mirengoff excerpts Chinese human rights activist Chen Guangcheng’s Washington Post op-ed that praises the Trump Administration’s China policy. Chinese dissidents “note and appreciate what [Trump] is doing.” Read the whole thing.

THE TEXAS MATA HARI: Iran’s peculiar intelligence coup.

SWIMMING ASHORE: Assault Amphibious Vehicles assigned to the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit cruise towards land after exiting the well deck of the amphibious dock landing ship USS Harpers Ferry. Photo taken August 28, 2019.

LIGHTNING AT SUNSET: An F-35A Lightning II taxis during sunset for a night flying operation at Hill Air Force Base, Utah.